Category Archives: stats

stats

2018 Gaming Stats Part 1

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

It’s a well known fact I love a good bandwagon to jump on. It’s the only bit of exercise and excitement I get these days.

Earlier in the year I stopped putting up a monthly summary of my gaming month, and it was met up with a loud roar of indifference and silence. It seems that no-one missed it. A bit hurtful. But then I have to remember only a couple of my friends read this, possibly my attack chihuahuas, and my mum definitely doesn’t (she doesn’t know how to use a web browser and even if she did, she wouldn’t).

Naturally this time of year the Facebook boardgaming groups are clogged up with people sharing their top 9 games of 2018, or their gaming stats for 2018. It’s been going on for a week or two now.

Not to be left out I thought I’d resurrect for an end of year post, and belatedly jump on what is fastly becoming a cliche and crowded bandwagon, my gaming stats for 2018. Especially now that I have actually had my last gaming session of the year. But more importantly because people loved this type of post so much in the past and miss it dearly. It’s almost like a late Christmas present to those people.

So here are the headline figures for 2018…

NB. I don’t record time spent playing a game so the time and days stats are total b.s.

I had 81 more plays in 2018 than 2017 (962). However I played 48 less games in 2018, somehow I played 124 games in 2017. I played in 4 more locations in 2018 over 2017, but with less people that I know. I played with 6 less of my friends in 2018. That’s a shame. I should put the effort in to see who they are and make sure I share a game with them soon.

Ok time for some pretty pie charts.

How did you compare on the headline figures?

BTN February 2018

by the numbers, stats

OMG I’ve just realised I haven’t done this post yet! What they heck have I been doing? I’ll try and keep this one very brief. I better get on with it then…

February was a dire month for games played. Apart from MtG, I played 3 games! But with illness taking me out of action for 2 weeks or more, bad weather and life events hitting some of those I play with. It’s possible to think it’s amazing that I managed as many as I did.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

No new games this month, so nada for this most prestigious award.

Worst Game of the Month…

Yep you guessed it nothing qualifies for this either.

Hopefully hitting the table in March…

One more attempt to get these three games to the table before moving onto something new. ▪ Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.

▪ Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.

▪ Tao Long – I like abstract games, and I really need to get this Kickstarter to the table.

  • The fortnightly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it). The next one is next Friday.
  • Every second Tuesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Tuesday has been and gone.

There is a MtG Commander event (if enough people sign up) next weekend.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there.

BTN January 2018

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Wow am I late in getting this post out. Better get on with it…

January is that one month of the year that seems to drag on. I think the blindingly obvious thing from last month is I played a lot of Magic the Gathering. This won’t be the case for much longer. From May onwards it will drop considerably, I’ll still be playing it. Just not as often because the opportunities to play won’t be there.

Two legacy games (Gloomhaven and Charterstone) started last month. I enjoy that style of game, I like the way actions have an impact on future plays. It gives them extra meaning.

Three new games got to the table. One of them a legacy game.

Sadly I only played seven games all month. I think due to scarcity of funds, the start of the legacy games, being able to afford the other meet ups has been hard. So it’s meant I’ve not attended those and thus the opportunity to play more games has been less.

Anyway here are the stats…

Here are the updated measurements of my averages.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. As you can see MtG has been distorting things a lot recently.

My Game of the Month…

This can only be Charterstone. Lovely art work (which I will go into a bit more in my next game report for it), worker placement (a mechanic I really like), legacy element, great components, once finished as a legacy game can still be played, a recharge pack allows the legacy side to be played a second time using the flip side of the board. Yeah delightful legacy game, and well deserved winner of game of the month.

Worst Game of the Month…

Yep there is a “winner” of this infamous award this month, and it’s down to its butt ugly awful artwork. Yep Escape the Dark Castle despite being an ok game, has dire art that puts me off wanting to play it. So for the art alone it’s getting this award.

Hopefully hitting the table in February…

I failed miserably last month to get these two classics to the table. So let’s see if I have better luck in February with them.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
  • Tao Long – I like abstract games, and I really need to get this Kickstarter to the table.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is next week. Which I’m not sure will be well attended by people in relationships. Their partners might get upset.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN December 2017

by the numbers, stats

Wow that’s Christmas and New Year been and gone, back to work tomorrow. But it’s also the end of another month of gaming. Which sadly for you lot means more boring stats, and very little insight. Let’s just jump right in with the numbers this month.

Again I beat the numbers when it comes to plays, mainly thanks to MtG. But the played games once again falls just short.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. Yes I played lots of MtG more than the previous month.

My Game of the Month…

This month there are a few contenders for the title. I think any other month anyone of them could claim the title. But one with its immense scope, and just the fact it is so epic, and truly lives up to those words, it can only be Twilight Imperium 4. I hadn’t played the third edition (hopefully during the Summer). But this updated reprint by FFG which includes parts of some of the expansions is truly an epic game.

My gaming moment of the month…

This has to be one of my students MtG game in the tournament that we held at the end of term. Two students were playing, one student was playing dinosaurs and had pumped up a single creature to a 19/19 which he promptly sacrificed using fling to do unblockable damage to the other player. Thinking he’d won with that killing blow, he packed his cards away. It was then pointed out to him that his opponent had on the field a creature I think it was that had the text on it saying that he was unable to lose the game, and his opponent couldn’t win, so he hadn’t won. It was impossible to reset the game to its previous game state, so his opponent was declared the winner. The students reaction was so funny, and over the top. It has to be the gaming moment of the month.

Worst Game of the Month…

It is the season of good will to all, and luckily there has been no game to be thrown into the Nantucket Wing of Shame this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in January…

I’m leaving the two classics that I shamefully haven’t played yet on the list for January.

▪Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.

▪Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it) is usually on a Friday, but double check on our Facebook page first.
Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is the 10th. Some of us are starting a Charterstone campaign that evening.
If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN November 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Well that’s November done and dusted, we are now on the home stretch to 2018. But how did I do gaming wise in November? As you will see this was an amazing month for the number of plays. In fact a record breaking month! But the number of games I played was a new all time low. The reason for that is that there has been no Friday Night Gaming at the White Lion for most of November. I’ve more or less stopped organising these because of lack of interest. But as you will see I have played a few games of Magic the Gathering this month. Most of these games have been against my students, one or two of them seem to have become addicted to the game.

Anyhooo, here are the stats for November 2017…

Here are the different measures for the average. It’s pretty obvious that the plays smashes them all, but the plays is considerably under.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. This big spike is going to skew things a bit I think.

My Game of the Month…

There was only one new game in November and because of the issues I reported with the size of the components and the hard to read numbers on the tiles, I can’t in all honesty make it the game of the month. So for the second time this year there is no game of the month.

My gaming moment of the month…

This will be the first of an “as and when” addition to this monthly retrospective.

Worst Game of the Month…

The board game world breathes a big sigh of relief as once again there is no new entry to the Nantucket Wing of Shame. Although the Barenpark Cellar of over hyped games does take up a lot of room in it.

Hopefully hitting the table in December…

Clans of Caledonia did make it to the table in November. So I have dropped that off the list.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
  • Twilight Imperium (4th Edition) – came out earlier than expected. A couple of game sessions are set up to play this, hopefully they will happen.

  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 13th December. More details on the clubs Facebook page (link at the bottom of  this post).

Click on the image to get a larger view of the gaming sessions planned so far for the month of December.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN October 2017

by the numbers, stats

We’re back baby! Well after the dip last month, this month has bounced right back. Getting some of my students hooked on MtG has helped a lot on this front.

In general you can tell when I have played a collectable game of some sort in a month because the number of plays shoots up.

Some old friends found their way back to the table (Guilds of London, The Manhattan Project and Kemet). And I was pretty glad they did.

I think that there has been a good mix of different weight games, and types of games this month. I’m almost tempted to say it’s been a very strong month for games played if we look at what I actually got to the table.

Here is the stats for October.


Let’s look to see if I beat the averages. I totally smashed the measurements for plays. Not even close. But for played games I under performed for everything but the mode measurement.


The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

There were three new games that I got to play this month. The first was the micro/filler card game Red7,  the second the horror co-op survival game Sub Terra and the third was the second edition of the Martin Wallace board game London. All completely different games, yet really enjoyable. Sadly all the baggage that surrounds Sub Terra rules it out from the running for this title. I think both of remaining two games are good enough to get the much coveted title of my game of the month. But I think that the quality issues of the cards in London are enough to give the title to Red7. It’s a harsh way to lose, but I had to use something  as the deciding factor.

This is a great game, fun to play, sounds simple when you hear the rules, but surprisingly complex. Plus With the basic, advanced and variant rules able to grow with the players as they become more familiar with the rules. Worthy winner of my game of the month.

My gaming moment of the month…

I think it has to be the “hey look over there, nothing to see over here” play in Kemet, when Liz stopped Dave from winning, leaving it open for me to get victory. That was an awesome moment. 

Worst Game of the Month…

What’s happening yet another month where this infamous award has not had a single nomination. If I’m not careful Jonathan will be putting the Nantucket wing of shame to other uses, like housing new purchases instead.

Hopefully hitting the table in November…

Two out of three ain’t bad. I managed to play multiplayer Commander in October and by the skin of the teeth play Zombicide with the Big Bang Theory Characters. Sadly I didn’t get Hero Realms to the table. But I think I need new goals for November.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Clans of Caledonia – when this kickstarter arrives (it was in the post at the time of writing allegedly) this will be getting to the table ASAP.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.

We have our regular events happening which are:

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 8th November and will be meeting up at The White Lion.

Also this weekend our Magic the Gathering League Season 2 kicks off, here are the dates for when it is being held.

There will be other gaming sessions going on also in November. Details will go up on our Facebook page for when and where.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN September 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

I enjoy this monthly opportunity to look back and reflect on the previous months gaming. But when you see this months numbers, holy cow the impact of Dale and I not getting a chance to play Star Wars: Destiny is massive. It’s a very busy time of year for us, new timetables, not a lot of gaps where we are free at the same time. I think we have found a slot one lunchtime we are both able to play a couple of games. We will have to see how that goes.

Incredibly there was only one new game played this month. I don’t think that has ever happened. I’m going to have to review the stats, because if it did then it was in the early days of record keeping I’m sure.

Super happy that Scythe got to the table twice. It’s a great game, and once that new expansion hits will be hitting the table even more. Also two other big games hit the table this month. It’s kind of important to acknowledge the impact these games have on the number of plays for the month. Take Star Wars: Rebellion for instance. That game for Diego and myself on Saturday took four hours to play (including the new setup involved with the expansion). If we had been playing lighter games instead we might have got three or four games/plays in, in the same time period.

I also wasn’t able to attend a couple of gaming sessions this month due to life stuff, other commitments. So that also would impact the stats a little. But not by much.

Anyway enough waffling, here are the cold hard and fast numbers from the BG Stats app for September.


Averages time. I only beat the mode number of plays in September. The others I was not even close. And I repeat this with the number of games played also. Under on arithmetic mean and median, just over on mode.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. After the fluctuating recent highs, September looks like a stock market crash on the plays front. Maybe I should normalise the previous months so they don’t have the Destiny numbers and see how big a drop it is if any?

My Game of the Month…

There was only one new to me game this month. But I don’t like to just give an award by default. Does Broom Service warrant being game of the month? I liked the game, it has some nice mechanics, great artwork. But still I’m not sure it makes the grade to be game of the month. So no winner this month.

Worst Game of the Month…

I’m glad to report no candidates for this award this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in October…

But going to put the ones from the last month back on for October.

  •  Zombicide – I want to get this to the table with the Big Bang Theory characters and see how they do in the zombie apocalypse.
  • Hero Realms with the character expansions.
  • Magic the Gathering Commander (with more than two players)

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 11/10/17.

I’m hoping that if you click on the image you can see what days we have stuff planned for so far in October.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN July 17

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

“School’s out forever, School’s out for summer”

The start of July is a busy time. We’ve just said good bye to the students, work is being externally moderated (that’s a nervous time for sure), staff development is taking place, some planning is going on for the new academic year. Yet while all that is going on we can see the light at the end of the tunnel that is our holiday.

Despite a busy two weeks Dale and I still managed to squeeze in 39 games of Star Wars: Destiny for the month. Or team building as we like to call it. Two afternoons of our holiday have helped with this.

But I’m jumping the gun, you haven’t seen the numbers for the month. So here they are…

I played some big games this month. And I’m loving that. Not only that but a couple of them got to the table more than once. The MtG league started, it was well attended and everyone had a great time. A date was also set for the next league day (see below).

So let’s look at the three different types of average for my data.


I’ve managed to beat the averages on number of plays. But the games played failed to beat two of the measures.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

I liked Descent, but I think there can only be one winner this month.  This months game of the month is …

Xia is soooo epic. I don’t get tired of describing it as Elite the board game. I can’t wait to introduce Nath to this game. I think he will like it. Just play this sandbox game, you will be impressed by the quality of the components, the game play. It’s just amazing.

Worst Game of the Month…

I can gladly declare that there is no new inductee to the Nantucket Wing of Shame or Barenpark cellar of over hyped games for this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in August…

All new games this month. You will notice I have put a few of kickstarters on the list that have either just arrived or I am expecting to arrive during August.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is on the 9th.

Please note that the BSG game below is now at the maximum player count.


If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

Ranking Engine Update

coding, ranking, stats, tech, TopXX Games

I feel like I have been doing lots to this project this week with not much to show for it.

As you can see I’ve just edged over the 25% mark for the number of pairwise comparisons that I need to do for my game ranking of my collection.

I’m not going to bore you with another “look at my current top 10”. Instead I’m going to bore you with my top 10 worker placement games based on my current rankings of games. 

What this really show cases is the start of the next stage of my stats engine. After a bit of behind the scenes rewriting of code, I’ve started a gui front end (see below). It’s an ugly, not designed gui. I’ll sketch something out over the weekend. 

But basically I can select a game mechanic and find all the games in my collection that have that mechanic. 

It then takes those results, and finds out how I’ve ranked them, followed by printing out the top ten. 

So before I add categories, designers and publishers I need to sort out the gui. That’s the major effort. 

Once that’s been done I’ll expand the stats to look at the bgg hotlist, followed by the bgg all time top 100. 

I then have more stuff on the road map. Wait did I just type that? That almost makes me sound like professional and I’ve planned it. But in reality I haven’t and I’m not. I’m making things up as I go along. I have ideas that I really should write down before they are lost. In away these posts are acting as my dev notebook. Well hopefully gentle reminders. 

Hopefully you can see things are progressing both code wise and rankings wise. I also hope you are finding the verses posts interesting. Which were a surprise spin off from this project.

Anyway I’ll see you in my next post.